Articulated wheeled pull toy



Dec. 8, 1953 w. B. ONLEY, JR 2,661,573

ARTICULATED WHEELED PULL TOY Filed Nov. 27, 1950 William B. On/ey, Jz

nvmv TOR.

Patented Dec. 8, 1953 ARTICULATED WHEELED PULL TOY William B. Onley, Jr., Owensboro, Ky., assignor of fifty per cent to William N. Larson, Sn,

Evansville, Ind.

Application November 27, 1950, Serial No. 197,693

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to new and useful improvements of structural refinements in toy vehicles, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a toy vehicle having an elongated body equipped with a set of rotatable rollers which are mounted on the body in such manner that the entire vehicle may roll or tumble laterally without impairing its ability to travel efliciently in a direction parallel to its longitudinal axis.

Some of the advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity of construction, in its durability, in its pleasing appearance and in its adaptability to economical manufacture.

With the above more important objects and features in view, and such other objects and fea- I tures as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a train of vehicles constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the vehicles per se;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 33 in Figure 4; and,

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially in the plane of the line 4-4 in the Figure 3.

Like characters of reference are employed to designate like parts in the specification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the general reference character l0 designates a train of vehicles I2 constructed in accordance with the instant invention, the several vehicles being similar in construction so that a description of one will sufiice for all.

Each of the vehicles I2 embodies in its construction an elongated, substantially triangular prism-shaped body 14 which afiords a pair of end walls l6, three flat side walls [8 and three flat corner edges 20 which are disposed between adjacent longitudinal edges 22 of the side walls l8, as is shown in Figure 2.

A pair of stub axles, such as for example, screws 24, are secured in and project outwardly from each of the corner edges 29 and have rotatably mounted thereon substantially spherical rollers 26 which constitute the wheels of the vehicle and are counter-bored at 28 to accommodate the head of the screws 24, as shown.

It is to be noted that the axis of each axle 24 is perpendicular to the side wall I8 at the relatively opposite side of the body M, in which manner any one of the three side walls l8 may constitute the bottom of the body, parallel to a surface 30 on which the vehicle travels.

Moreover, the vehicle may roll or tumble laterally while travelling in a direction parallel to its longitudinal axis, and it will be found that at all times four of the rollers 26 will be in contact with the surface 30 regardless of which of the side walls l8 constitute the bottom" of the vehicle.

As is best shown in Figure 1, several of the vehicles may be coupled together to form a train, this being achieved by employing flexible connecting or tow elements in the form of bead chains 32 which have end portions thereof rotatably positioned in suitable bores or sockets 34 with which the end portions of each vehicle I4 are provided. Suitable nails or pins 36 are provided in each vehicle body and project into the bores 34 between the beads of the elements 32 for the purpose of preventing said elements 32 from being withdrawn, and it is to be observed that by virture of their rotatability in the bores 34 the tow elements 32 permit each of the several vehicles in a train to roll or tumble laterally independently of the other. The leading vehicle in the train may be provided with a tow cable 38 equipped with a handle or knob 40 as shown.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly apparent from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the claimed as new is:

An articulated pull toy comprising, a series of elongated bodies of substantially triangular transverse section, a flexible element connected to one of said bodies for pulling the toy, a plurality of substantially spherical rollers journaled radially at longitudinally spaced points on the angles of said bodies, and flexible means rotatably connecting the bodies in spaced relation to each other, said bodies having longitudinal sockets in their end portions, said means including bead chains having their end portions engaged in the sockets, and pins in the bodies engaged transversely between the beads of the chains for anchoring said chains in the sockets.

WILLIAM B. ONLEY, JR.

invention, what is References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,333,216 Pajeau Mar. 9, 1920 2,035,308 Ferber Mar. 24, 1936 

